Re: Usability problem, and solution proposal

[Christian Schneider <c schneider scram de>]

David Christian Berg wrote:

> > > Combine this with the window list idea of Nathaniel... right click
> > > enables the list (which should include desktop btw) instead of moving
> > > the window down... thinking about it. Maybe if you could just drop a
> > > file directly onto a nautilus window in the window list that would make
> > > sense and serve the same purpose. it would also be more convinient for
> > > other programs if you didn't have to wait until they pop up after a
> > > while of hovering above the button.
> > >
> > >
> > >      
> > Hmm .. I don´t like this idea too much. A window list is not spatial. So 
> > you loose the advantage that you know where on the screen your folders are.
> > The taskbar already contains such a list so it is also a duplicate. What 
> > about using the right click while dragging over the taskbar to open the 
> > corresponding folder window without the delay? So we have the best of 
> > both suggestions.
> >    
>
> Yeah, agreed, we don't need the other list, that's what came to my mind,
> when I wrote it, so the right click idea for the window-list is a good
> one.
> Also I want the direct dropping onto windows in the window list. That'll
> speed up many other tasks such as opening files as well.
>
> Talking about spatial: Is it spatial to have windows jump around or back
> and forward without any direct user interaction?
>  
Spatial means the position and size of the windows remains the same for 
any folder till you change it. Moving it to the front or back of the 
window stack should be no big problem. But I would suggest to let 
windows go to the back and front only by clicks not by simply moving the 
mouse.

>  
>
> > > well, ctrl+x ctrl+v is essentially the same and quite a bit faster.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >      
> > I myself use this quite often but there are people who want to only use 
> > the mouse for this task.
> >    
>
> It's not that I dislike your clipboard idea. Actually this came up on
> the usability list before iirc, with the approach of a panel applet and
> I like it, since it's bringing gnome towards a more "shelf" like
> clipboard rather than just a clipboard. But for this special task of
> dragging and dropping one file it's quite an overkill imho.
> It definitely has to be a gnome-wide implented feature and nothing
> provided by nautilus.
>  
I think it could help beginners as they can split the drag into two 
easier actions.

The idea of implementing it generally for gnome is interesting but what 
would be the other uses of the clipboard besides holding files?
Hmm when I think about it the clipboard could also hold copied text and 
images. The text could be displayed as a text file. Images are like 
files anyway.

The clipboard would also be a nice alternative to saving files. You 
could simply have a button in the application that says save to 
clipboard. The file would appear in the clipboard and could be dragged 
to the destination folder. This should be quite intuitive.

Anyway the file could be saved to the disk as soon as it is on the 
clipboard so you can do the drag later and yet have a secure copy on the 
disk.